Chapter 10
“Here, have a beer,” Bo said, handing Javier his favorite domestic brand.
“Thanks, brother.” Javier popped the top off, grateful for the drink. He’d come to Montana at the request of his brothers so he’d be with them for Christmas. It didn’t hurt that he got to see some of the dragons he’d become friends with over the last couple years either.
For the majority of his life he’d been different, had never fit in anywhere because of his half-demon, half-fucked-up-hybrid status. With wolf and jaguar genes, he only shifted to wolf—or demon. But that jaguar gene was still there. He didn’t know of any other being like him.
But a couple years ago he discovered that he had half-brothers and a half-sister when they’d rescued him from Hell, more or less. Not the real Hell, but the prison in that Hell realm had been just as bad. After that, he’d met all sorts of supernatural beings and realized that he was definitely not alone, and there was much more to the world than he’d originally thought.
Some days it was strange to think he had family and friends who knew what he was and accepted him. And then some days he found it hard to accept himself. Not because he didn’t like what he was, but he sometimes simply felt broken. Shaking off that thought when Nyx, Bo’s mate, sidled up next to him and linked her arm through his, he smiled down at the adorable half-fae demigod.
“What’s got you down on Christmas Eve?” she asked, frowning. Of average height, her eyes were ocean blue and she was slender and fragile-looking—though she was anything but delicate. As the daughter of the goddess of Chaos, she had a lot of powers hidden in a small package. “It’s a time to celebrate, especially with Victoria being awake and a new baby here.”
While he adored her, he wasn’t opening up to her tonight. “Nothing’s got me down, I promise.” He took a swig of his beer and grinned at the semi-dark look Bo shot him.
Bo was ridiculously protective of his mate, and even two years ago he wouldn’t have allowed Javier to touch her at all. Not even in a friendly gesture. Supernatural creatures, especially half-demons, could get very territorial. But Bo was apparently evolving.
“Cynara says you were flirting with some of the girls from the bar,” Bo said, moving next to them and practically dragging Nyx to his side and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Are you seeing someone now?”
Okay so maybe his brother wasn’t evolved at all. Javier couldn’t imagine being so obsessed with a female that he acted like his brothers did. They were all fucking barbarians where their mates were concerned. “Our sister is incorrect. But she’s probably telling you that to cover the fact that she’s been getting chummy with a certain vampire.”
Across the high-top table, Cynara shot daggers at him with her eyes. “You know what they say about snitches, don’t you?”
“Snitches get stitches!” Nyx shouted out, clearly proud of herself, probably simply for knowing the human idiom. She hadn’t grown up in this realm and even though she’d been here for a few years, she was still learning certain things.
Bo smothered a laugh. “That’s right, baby.”
“A vampire?” Rory asked, frowning. His human mate was currently with some dragon females on the other side of the establishment, so all his focus was on his sister now.
Javier nodded, looking at all of his brothers: Bo, Ian and Rory. “Yep. He’s ancient. Or really fucking old and part of Lyra’s original coven. And I don’t like him.” It wasn’t exactly true. The vampire was all right, but Cynara was still his sister and he knew she’d gotten her heart broken once. If some fool tried to hurt her again, the idiot was going to answer to all of her brothers. Not that Javier didn’t think she could take care of herself. As a half-demon, half-vampire she most definitely could. But she had a big heart and was kind to everyone.
“Enough with that,” she snapped, looking at all of them. “I was dating a vampire as the snitch said, but we are no longer together.”
Javier frowned at that. “Since when? And why?”
“You didn’t want me talking to him anyway, so why does it matter?” She shook her head once, making her bright purple hair shimmer with the movement.
“I’m curious.” Javier needed to know if he should hunt the vamp down and kill him.
She lifted a shoulder and took a sip of her own beer. As she set it down, she said, “He was getting too clingy so I ended things.”
“What does that mean?” Bo demanded.
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “He was talking about getting mated.” Even as she said the words, Javier sensed that the idea of mating pleased her. So why on earth had she ended things?
All her brothers looked at each other because they’d no doubt sensed the same thing. Then Rory said, “Is he a worthy male?”
“Of course!” she snapped out, her normally dark purple eyes flashing to a pale violet.
“What’s the problem, then?” Javier asked.
“My private life is my business.”
Now Ian snorted. “Please. You have four brothers. Your romantic life is never just your business. And we are a bunch of nosy fuckers.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Fiona said to Ian, brushing her lips over his once. “Your sister is a grown woman. She can take care of herself.”
“Thank you. And we’re not discussing my private life anymore,” Cynara said even as she stood from the high-top table. “I’m going to get more food. These dragons sure can cook and I’m about to demolish a couple pies.”
“Ooh, I’ll come with you,” Nyx said, jumping up as well. When she did, her chair teetered back, dangerously close to falling—because the daughter of Chaos had a knack for knocking things over or flat-out breaking them.
Bo stopped it from crashing to the ground. Fiona joined the females, and when it was just the brothers remaining Bo leaned forward. “So, who is this vampire? And why are we now just hearing about it?”
Javier lifted a shoulder. “Some older vampire. I think he’s almost a thousand years old. He’s a warrior and comes from a good bloodline. At least that’s what Cynara said to one of her friends. I was eavesdropping,” he added. “She didn’t tell me.”
“Have you met him?”
“No, not for lack of trying. But I heard through the supernatural grapevine that he’s been in and out of Biloxi, meeting with Lyra and Finn about pack and coven relations. And he’s supposed to be at the next cage fight on New Year’s Eve.”
Just like that all his brothers grinned and Fiona groaned as she joined the table again, clearly having overheard them. “Are you guys planning on fighting Cynara’s ex?”
Rory rubbed his hands together like a cartoon villain. “Hell yeah. We need to find out who this male is. Because Cynara definitely likes him even if she ended things with him. We need to make sure he’s good enough for her.”
“Agreed,” Javier said and the others all murmured the same.
“Or you could just leave this whole situation alone and let Cynara take care of herself?” Fiona suggested.
Javier looked at his brothers and as one, they all shook their heads. “Nah.”